Part I. The colonial period. How the men were parted from the women / Fray Ramón Pané -- A maiden's story / Popol Vuh -- Tocay Capac, the first Inca / Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala -- Plague of ants / Fray Bartolomé de las Casas -- The story of Pedro Serrano / Garcilaso de la Vega, el Inca -- The adventurer who pretended that he was a bishop / Gaspar de Villarroel -- Amorous and military adventures / Catalina de Erauso ("The lieutenant nun") -- A deal with Juana García / Juan Rodríguez Freyle.

Part II. New nations. The slaughter house / Esteban Echeverría -- The tiger of the plains / Domingo Faustino Sarmiento -- He who listens may hear--to his regret : confidence of a confidence / Juana Manuela Gorriti -- Fray Gómez's scorpion / Ricardo Palma -- Midnight mass / Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis.

Part III. The contemporary period. The death of the empress of China / Rubén Darío -- Yzur / Leopoldo Lugones -- The decapitated chicken / Horacio Quiroga -- The baby in pink buckram / João do Rio (Paulo Barreto) -- The man who resembled a horse / Rafael Arévalo Martínez -- The braider / Ricardo Güiraldes -- The man who knew Javanese / Alfonso Henriques de Lima Barreto -- Peace on high / Rómulo Gallegos -- The Christmas turkey / Mário de Andrade -- The daisy dolls / Felisberto Hernández -- The photograph / Enrique Amorim -- The clearing / Luisa Mercedes Levinson -- The garden of forking paths / Jorge Luis Borges -- Journey back to the source / Alejo Carpentier -- The tree / María Luisa Bombal -- The legend of 'El Cadejo' / Miguel Angel Asturias -- Encarnación Mendoza's Christmas Eve / Juan Bosch -- The third bank of the river / João Guimarães Rosa -- The image of misfortune / Juan Carlos Onetti -- Tell them not to kill me! / Juan Rulfo -- Hahn's pentagon / Osman Lins -- The switchman / Juan José Arreola -- The featherless buzzards / Julio Ramón Ribeyro -- Meat / Virgilio Piñera -- Unborn / Augusto Roa Bastos -- The night face up / Julio Cortázar -- Cooking lesson / Rosario Castellanos -- The doll queen / Carlos Fuentes -- The walk / José Donoso -- Balthazar's marvelous afternoon / Gabriel García Márquez -- The challenge / Mario Vargas Llosa -- The crime of the mathematics professor / Clarice Lispector -- Buried statues / Antonio Benítez Rojo -- A woman's back / José Balza -- The warmth of things / Nélida Piñón -- Penelope / Dalton Trevisan -- The threshold / Christina Peri Rossi -- The parade ends / Reinaldo Arenas -- When women love men / Rosario Ferré.